Posted on 07/29/2013 11:51:33 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
(Newser) – Detroit spent the last decade spiraling into bankruptcy, while Atlanta spent it growing like mad. But the two cities have something in common: "Both are places where the American dream seems to be dying," writes Paul Krugman at the New York Times. Social mobility is low in both cities—meaning the poor are staying poor. Why? Well, a new study suggests that it might be because they're just too spread out. "Sprawl may be killing Horatio Alger."
The study found that social mobility was correlated with how far apart various classes lived from each other. "In Atlanta, poor and rich neighborhoods are far apart because, basically, everything is far apart; Atlanta is the Sultan of Sprawl," Krugman writes. "Disadvantaged workers often find themselves stranded; there may be jobs available somewhere, but they literally can't get there." We need to build smarter, more compact population centers that let families get by without multiple cars. Click for Krugman's full column.
Around here, there are vans that pick people up in the evening to take them worm-picking at the farms to the north, then return them to the city in the morning.
No doubt Krugman will be happy to be Obama’s Location Czar, telling everyone where to live. Meanwhile, he lives in a posh apartment guarded by guys with guns.
Some animals are more equal than others.
Just why the heck do these LIB morons think I moved to relatively remote Utah??????? To be close to them????? I am far away from feral urban losers as I could get. My hope is that they are too weak and lazy to cross hundreds of miles of desert to face resistance from my neighbors and I. Cry me a river for their being “stranded”. Good.
I don’t disagree, but where does a preteen learn HOW to make intelligent choices?
From their parents ,siblings and peers. Unfortunately their parents siblings and peers don’t know how to make intelligent choices. If they did they wouldn’t be where they are.
The children of parents on welfare generally are living amongst other children of welfare parents.
Nearly all of their childhood experiences are going to be centered in a culture of dependency (of all kinds).
They have little chance of learning good life skills because their role models do not have good life skills.
Their only chance is a government program such as was forced on Clinton that put a time limit on government aid. A forced weaning off of welfare is the only likely exit for the welfare dependant.
bfl
Detoilet is 140 sq miles!
I doubt Atlanta even comes close to that.
What about buses. That's how our maids got to our house from the poor part of town when I was growing up.
One of the commenters on that article brought up (basically) the “nature or nurture” question.
Be interesting to see if there’s any grant money to be had studying it (I’m going to bet not, unless of course you already had the PC answer in the ready).
If cities are more economically efficient why does it cost so much more to live there? If the subways charged what they really cost they would be far more expensive than automobiles. Cities are fine for housing the welfare class, the promiscuous, the illegal drug seekers, and they do well as work hubs, except companies are fleeing them because of high costs, taxes, and regulation. The city work hub is being replaced by the internet hub that enables workers to be widely dispersed. NYC's population would be declining if not for the imports from third world countries. The people that can afford to move out are voting with their feet.
We are in a food desert. 8 miles to the nearest town. There is a taxi service. 8 mile round trip is $35. There is also a relatively affordable (not sure of the price) bus from the town to the nearest city of 50k.
There is a prison in the nearest town. Because of that, we have a black family population that is mobile. The turnover is fairly rapid, from what I can tell. I’ll see certain black people, some working, some kids, some elders for awhile and then, they disappear. I am pretty sure they follow the inmate.
We have legal Hispanic farm workers. The farmers jump through myriad governmental hoops and must provide housing. Most of them have simply purchased homes in a particular village that is a Little Mexico sort of place. These houses are inspected and the farmer owners keep them up.
The truth is, this sort of rural area is boring for anyone used to urban life. There is very little to do. Almost all social life is family-oriented, includes gatherings at friends’ homes and church functions. There are 2 large employers, one a factory, one a dairy co-operative. Unemployment is very low. We do have poor people and Section 8 housing, but it is clean and functional.
The real squalor is in the rural lowlands nearest the Mississippi, collectively known as The Coulees. Usually a rundown trailer house with broken lawn chairs in the yard and several beaters up on blocks, or not, that likely don’t run. These places are off the main road and aren’t readily visible. You have to hunt for them. But you do need some sort of vehicle to live like that.
Urban sprawl only works with a strong economy and cheap gasoline.
Wow! One of my favorite articles is suddenly relevant!
It’s on the history of the New York Subway system, which was conceived by New York’s elite to create exactly the problem that Krugman now wants to solve.
http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/The_New_York_Rapid_Transit_Decision_of_1900_(Katz)
Quick excerpt:
“The increase in New York’s population, particularly in the period 1860-1900, was largely due to immigration from the poorest, most backward, rural areas of Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe.6 The new immigrants customarily settled and tried to remain in the densely populated and overcrowded areas of the lower East Side of Manhattan ...
In the view of the patrician elite who led the fight for the subway, the squalid conditions of life in these ghetto slums spawned poverty, crime, and disease...
... the patricians envisioned but one solution for both the political problem of bossism and the social problem of immigrant slums. Rapid transit — mechanized high speed trains running on tracks separate from the street, providing cheap, quick transportation from the Battery to lower Westchester — would alone foster the dispersion of the immigrant population to the relatively undeveloped northern part of the city.”
The prologue is well worth reading for folks interested in social history. There’s also a fsacinating political angle tot he story.
“Sprawl may be killing Horatio Alger.”
Right. Not the criminal culture, entitlement mentality, government incentives to stay single and pump out babies, black racism, or incompetent liberal political leadership. It’s the fault of people who refuse to live in that environment.
Under UN Agenda 21 plans, all the peasants (and if you are reading this, you’re one) are collected into giant metro areas when they can be totally controlled. Electric, water, food, etc. can so easily be controlled. Need to get rid of 5.5 billion unneeded peasants, just a flip of a switch away.
By the way, I enjoy Paul Krugman when he comments on Zerohedge ... he’s so damn funny and his comments always elicit howls of laughter. However, I hope he hangs in there as whatever he recommends the rational human can choose to do the opposite with a high probability of success.
Atlanta is 132 square miles in area.
Both are pretty meaningless, since the metro area is what determines jobs, not municipality boundaries.
Too bad we didn’t pick our own effin cotton.
“Retake the cities, if you can stand it.”
That’s exactly what Commissar Bloomberg is doing (effectively).
I agree parents, siblings, and peers don’t do the proper job. It is unfortunate community organizations that teach morals, leadership and achievement could make a difference (Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Junior Achievement, YMCA, JROTC) are not embraced by the community for cultural reasons. It is also unfortunate “community organizers”, funded by progressive organizations, are focused on agitation and not building up people. Finally, the churches in the community are failing to assist teen parents in developing necessary life skills and childrearing skills.
Essentially we have a breakdown into a culture of anarchy and dependency that is self perpetuating and enabled by welfare. In addition to your suggestion of putting a time limit on government aid, we also need government projects involving hard work that teach these people the job skills needed to survive and prosper in the workplace. Perhaps we should bring back the CCCC and put the welfare dependent to work improving the infrastructure in public places. Work or starve. Add in some military discipline and it may be possible to turn some welfare dependents into productive citizens.
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